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Jeff Tharp was appointed by Holyoke School District Re-1J board president Kris Camblin to fill the board vacancy created by the resignation of Kim Killin.

The appointment was made at the Aug. 19 board meeting after three motions for appointing candidates all failed on 3-3 votes. Tharp will serve until November of 2015, at which time a two-year term will be on the ballot to complete what was Killin’s board term.

Four other board terms expire in 2015. Linda Jelden and Jon King will be term-limited and ineligible to seek re-election. Michelle Van Overbeke and Dennis Herman will be finishing their first four-year term at that time.

Board members reiterated the strength of all three candidates for the open board position.

An initial motion to appoint Dusty Sprague to the board vacancy found Pat Wiebers, Van Overbeke and Jelden in favor and Herman, Camblin and King opposed.

The next motion to appoint Nici Bishop was supported by King, Camblin and Van Overbeke, with Herman, Jelden and Wiebers voting no.

A third motion to appoint Tharp found Herman, King and Camblin in favor, with Jelden, Van Overbeke and Wiebers opposed.

Due to the lack of majority vote for any candidate, law required that the board president make the appointment since it has been more than 60 days since the vacancy was declared.

In making the appointment, Camblin emphasized how hard the decision was. He pointed out that Tharp, who was term-limited in 2013, had been elected by the community to the board post twice before.

He encouraged Sprague and Bishop to seek election in 2015 to let the public decide through a vote. Camblin also said he would like to see both serve on one of the smaller committees of the school district. Tharp will not be eligible to put his name on the ballot for a board position until 2017.

Other business

In other business Aug. 19, the Re-1J board:

—noted that the Sept. 2 and 16 meetings will begin at 8 p.m. A welcome reception for new teachers has tentatively been set for 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 16.

—accepted the resignation of John Zilla from his head high school baseball coaching position and of elementary school paraprofessional Jason Wendling.

—hired Ana Trejo as a full-time one-on-one paraprofessional to work in the high-needs special education classroom at Holyoke Elementary.

—approved second reading of board policy KFA on public conduct on district property.